1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a device for assembling a surgical instrument. In particular, the device automates certain steps of an assembly process to ensure components of the instrument are properly aligned and connected.
2. Background of Related Art
Many surgical instruments include a blade or knife for mechanical tissue cutting. Often these knives are positioned at a distal end of the instrument and are operable from a proximal location on the instrument to traverse a particular path through the tissue. This arrangement may be particularly evident in surgical instruments configured for minimally invasive surgery. In a minimally invasive surgical procedure, a narrow tube or cannula may be inserted through a small incision made in a patient to provide access to a surgical site. Surgical instruments configured for minimally invasive surgery are thus typically equipped with an elongate shaft coupling a working head at the proximal end of the instrument to the end effector at the distal end of the instrument. The knife typically forms a component of the end effector, and control surfaces for activating the knife are typically located on the working head. Positioning the elongate shaft through the cannula thus permits a surgeon to manipulate the knife at an internal surgical site from the control surfaces that remain on the exterior of the patient.
To facilitate this remote operability, an aspect ratio of the knife may be relatively high, i.e., the geometry of the knife may be long and narrow. A knife exhibiting a long and narrow geometry may tend to bend, warp or otherwise deviate from a flat or straight configuration. These deviations may be relatively random such that each knife manufactured to a particular specification is distinct from other such knives, and these distinctions may present difficulties in defining an assembly procedure for instruments including the knives.
Typically, a knife may be manually assembled with other instrument components such as a support structure or knife guide. The knife guide may have an opening configured to receive the knife such that the knife may be visually aligned and threaded through the opening. The knife guide may be subsequently assembled into the instrument with the knife protruding from the opening. Such a process is labor intensive and presents various opportunities for error and damage to the instrument components. For example, a manually assembled knife could be damaged by unintended contact with the knife guide. Accordingly, the assembly of a surgical instrument may be facilitated by an assembly device that automates certain steps of the assembly process while accounting for variations in blade geometry.